In 1910, Pau Casals had the Vil·la Casals built along the seaside promenade of Sant Salvador, El Vendrell. The villa, which was originally conceived as a summer house, was reformed by the architect Antoni Puig i Gairalt between 1931 and 1936, together with the Music Room, the garden and the belvedere. Pau Casals lived here until 1939, when he was forced to go into exile, never to return again.

Pau Casals and his wife Marta Montañez created the Pau Casals Foundation in 1972 for the purpose of preserving the great musician's patrimony at the house in Sant Salvador. In 1974, one year after the Maestro's death, the Hall of Sentiment, the Concert Hall and the Vigatà Hall were opened to the public, and in 1976 the house was inaugurated as a museum.The Pau Casals Foundation closed the museum temporarily in 1996 in order to carry out a complete rehabilitation on it since the passing of time, the adverse climatic conditions and contemporary society's new needs called for an intervention of both structural and museographic character.

Today's museum was inaugurated on 2 June 2001.